Everton close in on £40m signing of 19-year-old Southampton wonderkid Tyler Dibling as Saints instigate sale after Toffees initially backed off

Saints had rejected two previous offers for Dibling in recent weeks, but the south coast club returned to Everton with a suggested new price which has been accepted. Southampton have conceded this is the time to part ways with their academy graduate but have inserted a 20 per cent sell-on fee, according to The Athletic, which has smoothed the way for the deal to progress.

Dibling scored two goals in 33 Premier League appearances for the Saints last season and was one of the few positives from what was a dreadful season for the club. Tottenham and Newcastle had been tracking the talented winger, but their interest cooled and now Everton look like they have landed their man.

Moyes recently said: "We have money to spend and we are trying to spend it. We've really gone for some top players but unfortunately we've not been able to get them, so we might be finding ourselves coming down the ladder to find players because we are short on numbers generally. We are going to have to adjust."

Everton have made a number of signings this summer as the Toffees begin life in new surroundings at the Hill Dickinson Stadium. Dibling will become David Moyes' seventh signing of the current transfer window, following the arrivals of Thierno Barry, Jack Grealish, Mark Travers, Tom King, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Adam Aznou.